Sliding door mechanism



J. J. F RUEH SLIDING DOOR MECHANISM Dec. 5, 1950 Filed June 27, 1945 INVENTOR. J. .7. Fr'w e/z,

Patented Dec. 5, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT ormcs SLIDING DOOR MECHANISM John J. Frueh, Maywood, Calif.

Application June 27, 1945, Serial No. 601,774

5 Claims.

This invention relates to sliding doors such as used on freight cars and trailers and has for its object to provide an extremely compact and efficient mechanism for opening and closing such doors. It is the further object of my invention to provide a mechanism for tightly seating the door within the door framing, flush with the outer surface of the car body.

Other objects and the advantageous features of the invention will be readily appreciated upon perusal of the following detailed description and by referring to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of a freight car or trailer door and the operating mechanism associated therewith, parts of which are broken away for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional end view of the door taken substantially on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, in the direction of the arrow;

Fig. 3 is a substantially corresponding View taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, in the direction of the arrow;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the door of Fig. 1, showing also a portion of the door framing;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary, cross sectional plan view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of a locking mem- The door C is shaped to fit snugly within the door opening, when the door is closed, and it is provided at the top and bottom with two sets of short, vertically aligned stems 2, 3. Intermediate these sets of stems is provided a central control stem 4, reaching from top to bottom of the door. The stems 2 and 3 are fixed to rotate in bearings 5, of the door, and the central control stem is similarly supported in bearings 1.

The stems 2 and 4 terminate at the top in heads 8, 9, all of which may be and preferably are made exactly alike. Description of one therefore pertains to all of them. Each head comwithin the channeled beam l, and each truck is pivotally secured to the heads of the stems at the ends of said top plate extensions, substantially as indicated at H. In'addition to this, it is noticed that the heads are all operatively connected to a bar l2, preferably by means of the same pivots H. Preferably, the wheels are omitted from the central truck Ill the only function of which then becomes to guide the stem head laterally within the channel.

In view of this short description and by referring to the drawings, it should be clear to anyone familiar with the art that a quarter turn of the stems will swing the door into or out of its seat in the door opening. Also that the distance beyond the door framing that the door will move, in opening, depends upon the length of the extension 8 There are some important features of this construction which I shall now explain. It is noticed that the base plate 8 of the stem heads is placed so close to the bottom surface I of the channel beam. that it merely clears this beam when the door is swung into closed position. Also that the top of the door may be even with the top of the base plate. In this manner, an extremely compact combination is obtained and this is most important, especially on freight car and trailer doors, where it is essential for loading and unloading purposes to have the door opening as close to the top and bottom of the vehicle body as possible.

The mechanism for rotating the stems to open and close the door is for convenient operation shown mounted on the central stem 4 It is, for the purpose of illustration shown to comprise an arm 20, which is journaled in a clamp 21 of the stem for vertical swinging movement relative thereto. When the door is in open position, as indicated in Fig. 1, it is seen that this arm hangs freely suspended from the clamp, but it is raised into horizontal position and swung to one side into the position indicated in dotted outline to lodge within the groove of a bracket 22, and it may be held in position therein by a bolt 23. This, however, is merely illustrative of simple anchoring means, and any conventional locking thereof, may be somewhat simplified and made more compact. :Since the Weight of the door is carried by the wheel trucks I0, it is possible entirely to eliminate these trucks at the bottom. The channel beam l3 need, for this reason, merely be deep enough to receive the bar it, and the heads l5, It can be correspondingly reduced in height. This is also most important because of the very limited amount of space available at the bottom of the vehicle body.

It will be understood that the foregoing description and the drawings are merely illustrative of the various features of my invention, and that modifications of parts and arrangements may be made within the scope of the claims hereto appended.

I claim:

1. A door operating mechanism for a freight carrying vehicle having a door opening in the side wall thereof and a door seatable in said opening, said mechanism comprising, a tubular beam rectangular in cross section and horizontally extending along the wall of the vehicle above the door opening, the beam having cut through the outer side wall thereof an opening parallel with the upper and lower surfaces of the beam, the portions of the outer wall above and below the opening forming flanges, stems vertically mounted on the outer surface of the door for axial rotation thereon, a head on each stem having a horizontally disposed top plate extending through the .side wall opening of the beam, wheel trucks fitted to ride in the beam Within the flanges thereof, the ends of the plates extending into the beam being pivotally secured to the wheel trucks, and means on the outer surface. of the door connected to rotate said stems to cause the heads thereof to turn horizontally on the wheel trucks to swing the door into and out of the door opening.

2. A door operating mechanism for a freight carrying vehicle having a door opening in the side wall thereof and a door seatable in said opening. said mechanism comprising, a tubular beam rectangular in cross section and horizontally extending along the wall of the vehicle above the door opening, the beam having cut through the outer side wall thereof an opening parallel with the upper and lower surfaces of the beam, the portions of the outer wall above and below the opening forming flanges, stems vertically mounted on the outer surface of the door for axial rotation thereon, a head on each stem having a horizontally disposed top plate extending through the side wall opening of the beam, a bar horizontally positioned within the upper flange of the beam, wheel trucks fitted to ride in the beam within the flanges thereof, the ends of the plates extending into the beam being pivotally secured to the wheel trucks and the said bar, and means on the outer door surface for rotating said stems to cause the heads thereof to turn horizontally on the wheel trucks to swing the-door into and out of the door opening.

3. A door operating mechanism for a freight carrying vehicle having a door opening in the "side wall thereof and a door seatable in said opening, said mechanism comprising, a tubular beam rectangular in cross section and horizontally extending along the wall of the vehicle above the door opening, the beam having cut through the outer side wall thereof an opening parallel with the upper and lower surfaces of the beam, the portions of the outer wall above and below the opening forming flanges, stems vertically mounted on the outer surface of the door for axial rotation thereon, a head on each stem having a horizontally disposed top plate extending through the side wall opening of the below the door opening, a bottom bar slidable within said lower beam, stems vertically seated for axial rotation at the bottom of the door, heads on said stems having horizontally disposed bottom plates pivotally joined to said bottom bar, and means on the outer door surface for simultaneously rotating all of said stems to cause the heads thereof to turn horizontally on said bars to swing the door into and out of the door opening.

4. In a freight carrying vehicle having a door opening in the side thereof and a door fittingly seatable within said door opening, a door operating mechanism comprising, channeled beams horizontally extending along the outer side surface of the vehicle directlv above and below the door opening thereof, barsheld in position within and fitted for sliding movement within said beams, stems vertically seated on the outer door surface for axial rotation thereon, heads on said stems having arms extending into and pivotally joined to said bars, and means on the outer door surface for simultaneously rotating all of said stems to swing said arms on their pivots thereby to move the door into and out of the door opening.

5. In a freight carrying vehicle having a door opening in the side thereof and a door fittingly seatable within said door opening, a door operating mechanism comprising channeled beams horizontally extending along the outer side sur face of the vehicle directly above and below the door opening thereof, stems vertically seated on the outer door surface for axial rotation thereon, heads on said stems having arms extending'into said beams, bars held within and fitted for sliding movement within the beams, wheel trucks held for horizontal movement in said upper beam, studs pivotal y interconnecting the bar the wheel trucks and the arms within the upper beam, studs pivotally joining the bar and the arms within the lower beam, and means on the outer door surface for simultaneously rotating all of said stems to swing said arms thereby to move the door into and out of the door opening.

JOHN J. FRUEH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 565,286 Le Gros Aug. 4, 1896 646,644 Harrison Apr. 3, 1900 665,412 Dill Jan. 8, 1901 817,886 Terrell Apr. 17, 1906 828,658 Hussey Aug. 14, 1906 1,959,705 Christianson May 22, 1934 2,108,224 Haseltine Feb. 15, 1938 

